The San Diego Padres are battling for their playoff lives as they take on the juggernaut LA Dodgers Sunday night in the final game of a three game series. The Padres and Phillies are jockeying for the final two playoff spots in the National League, 3.5 games ahead of the Brewers, while the Dodgers enjot a huge lead in the NL West. The Dodgers are 8-3 against the Padres this season, not counting Saturday night's game. Mike Clevinger (5-5) gets the start for the Padres while the Dodgers have not yet named a starter.
The San Diego Padres' offense has started to click. In the first few weeks after they picked up Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury at the trade deadline, the offense had not produced like they might have expected. But the Padres seemed to have turned the corner, winning 6 of their last 7 games heading into Saturday's night game against the Dodgers. On Friday, they pummeled the Dodgers 7-1, as Drury, Jurickson Profar, and Manny Machado all blasted home runs. Yu Darvish got the win, throwing 7 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits. Machado is now hitting .306 with 25 home runs and 87 RBI while Drury is batting .262 with 25 home runs and 79 RBI.
My current MVP power rankings
AL
1. Aaron Judge
2. Shohei Ohtani
3. Yordan Alvarez
4. Jose Ramirez
5. Justin VerlanderNL
1. Paul Goldschmidt
2. Nolan Arenado
3. Mooki e Betts
4. Manny Machado
5. Sandy Alcantara— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) September 2, 2022
Mike Clevinger gets the start for the Padres on Sunday. Clevinger, a right hander, is 5-5 on the season with an ERA of 3.59 in 17 appearances, including 16 starts. He has 73 strikeouts and 27 walks in 85.1 innings of work. Clevinger beat the Giants in his last start, giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits in 5 innings with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk. Clevinger is 0-1 against the Dodgers this season, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts in 4.2 innings against LA. The Padres have a team ERA of 3.77, which ranks 9th in baseball. The bullpen has an ERA of 3.74, which ranks 12th in the majors.